Shower apparatus



April 2, 19%

Filed March 51, 1967 A. N. LUCIAN SHOWER APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheeb l FIG-,1

I ARSEN E $6 L U CIAN SHOWER APPARATUS I Filed March 31, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ARSENE M. LUCIAN BY @ZW ATT RNEY United States Patent 3,375,533 SHOWER APPARATUS Arsene N. Lucian, Manasquan, NJ. 08736 Filed Mar. 31, 1967, Ser. No. 627,531 Claims. (Cl. 4-145) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A shower head movable manually or mechanically in runways of a fixed or portable frame or on a shower room wall to be positioned to direct sprays of water onto a person at selected levels from head to foot.

Many persons prefer a tub bath to a shower bath because the conventional shower head sprays water only from above and does not direct the water onto all parts of the persons body. As a result, soap lather on the body is not properly removed by the sprays of water whereby the person must resort to a wash cloth or sponge to assure removal of the lather.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide simple and practical shower apparatus for selectively directing sprays of water onto a person at different levels from head to foot.

Another object'is to provide such apparatus wherein a runway for a movable shower head may be installed in the wall of a shower room or may be provided in a frame adapted to be fixed or remova-bly attached to the wall.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a portion of a shower room wall formed with runways for a movable shower head.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 2-2 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 33 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a frame formed with runways for the shower head.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of mechanism for raising and lowering the shower head.

Referring now in detail to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings, there is shown a portion of a shower room having a wall W formed with a rectangular recess R which is provided at each side with guideway means such as a vertical runway or channel 10. The runways extend upwardly from adjacent the lower portion of the wall to about the height of an adult person, for example, six feet tall.

A shower head 11 is slidably mounted in the runways. As shown herein, the shower head is in the form of a hollow rectangular frame having horizontal top and bottom sections 12 and having vertical side sections 14 which fit into the runways (FIG. 2). The upper and lower sections 12 are formed with one or more rows of apertures 15 for directing sprays of water onto a person standing in front of the recess R.

If desired, the apertures 15 may be postiioned so as to slant and direct sprays of water upwardly or downwardly at an angle of about fifteen degrees. For example, the apertures of the upper section may be positioned to direct the sprays downwardly, and the apertures of the lower section may be positioned to direct the sprays upwardly (FIG. 3).

Water is introduced into the shower head by means 3,375,533 Patented Apr. 2, 1968 of a flexible hose 16 having its upstream end connected to a source of temperature controlled water (not shown) and having its downstream end connected to the shower head through a valve 17 provided with a manually operable member 18. Preferably the valve is located near the upper right hand corner of the shower head frame which is the most accessible location for righthanded persons. Also, the hose is kept to the side of the shower apparatus. In the event the source of water is to the left of the shower apparatus, the frame can be installed so that the valve is near the lower left hand corner of the frame. Alternatively, the frame may be fabricated for either right or left side water sources with the valve near the upper corner.

The vertical dimension of the side sections 14 is not too important, that is, the horizontal sections 12 could be closer together or further apart than shown. However, the horizontal dimension of the upper and lower sections 12 should be about equal to the width of a person across the shoulder so that the sprays are directed onto and across the entire body at a given level.

The shower head frame preferably is formed of a slightly bendable plastic material to facilitate foldingthe upper and lower sections 12 to enable the side sections 14 to be inserted into the runways and removed therefrom. The shower head frame is dimensioned to provide a sliding fit between the side sections and the runways while having sufiicient friction between contacting surface to sustain the frame at its selected level.

Alternatively, the shower head frame could be constructed of a rigid material. In that event, the frame could be inserted into the runways at the top thereof.

In FIG. 4, another embodiment of the present invention is shown wherein the guideway means are runways 10 in a frame 20 constructed of a rigid plastic material or of a lightweight metal. The frame 20 comprises horizontal upper and lower sections 21 formed of angle members, vertical side sections 22 formed of channel members and intermediate horizontal reinforcing bars 24 connected to the side sections. The frame 20 may be permanently secured to the shower room wall or may be removably attached to the wall by suction cups 25 or other suitable means.

The shower head frame 11 is movably mounted in the runways of the frame 20.

The apparatus shown in FIG. 4 is similarly dimensioned as the aparatus shown in FIGS. 1 to 3.

In FIG. 5 fixed mechanism is illustrated schematically apart from the guideway means for raising and lowering the shower head 11. This mechanism includes a reversible hydraulic motor 30 having inlets 31 and 32 and having an outlet 33. A flexible hose 34 connects the shower head 11 to a source of water not shown. A valve 35 having an inlet 36 connected to a source of water (not shown) and having outlets 37 and 38 respectively connected to the motor inlet 31 and 32 is arranged for manual operation to selectively control the direction in which the motor is operated and to stop the motor.

The motor 30 has a drive shaft 40 at each side and a drive pulley 41 is mounted on each shaft. Idler pulleys 42 are rotatably mounted near the floor of the shower room and are positioned in vertical alignment with the pulleys 41. A belt 43 is looped over each set of pulleys 41, 42, and has one end connected to the top of the shower head at 44 and has its other end connected to the bottom of the shower head at 45, whereby the pulleys 41 drive the belts to raise and lower the shower head.

It will be appreciated that instead of operating the valve manually, the valve could be programmed by a hydraulically driven system so that the shower head can be held at rest for a desired duration before being moved 3 to another level or could be moved up and down at a given time-controlled rate.

Also, the temperature of the bath water could be programmed by a hydraulically driven system which will control the water-mixing handles commonly in use. For example, in the beginning, the water may be warm to enable soap to be lathered and the water temperature may be gradually reduced to provide an invigorating cool shower.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides improved shower apparatus.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangements of the parts herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a shower room having a wall, shower apparatus comprising a pair of channel means on the wall spaced apart a distance about equal to the width of a person across the shoulders and each having front, back and side surfaces and extending upwardly from adjacent the lower portion of the wall to about the height of an adult person; rectangular hollow shower head means having an upper section, a lower section and a pair of side sections, said upper and lower sections having apertures for directing sprays of water onto the person and said side sections being contoured to fit into said channel means to slidably mount said shower head means for upward and downward movement to enable the same to be positioned to selectively direct sprays of water onto the person at different levels from head to foot, said shower head means being formed of a bendable material to facilitate folding said upper and lower sections crosswise to thereby enable said side sections to be inserted into said channel means and removed therefrom; a flexible conduit connectedto said shower head means for supplying water under pressure; and a valve on or closely adjacent said shower head means for controlling the flow of water through said conduit.

2. In shower apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said upper section apertures are positioned to direct sprays of water downwardly and said lower section apertures are positioned to direct sprays of water upwardly.

3. In shower apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said channel means are built in the wall.

4. In shower apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said channel means are in a frame attached to the wall.

5. In shower apparatus according to claim 1, wherein mechanism including a reversible hydraulic motor and a valve for reversing said motor effects raising and lowering of said shower head means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,982,509 11/1934 Frank 4145 2,685,093 8/1954 Lundquist 4l45 2,697,839 12/1954 Jackson 4-145 2,901,760 9/1959 Nelson 4-158 3 3,005,995 10/1961 Bickson 4-l45 3,048,851 8/1962 Bickson 4145 3,292,185 12/1966 Lucian 4--185 LAVERNE D. GEIGER, Primary Examiner.

H. K. ARTIS, Assistant Examiner. 

